Earthlink alternatives

Just as my cable-modem bill increased to $42 per month, my cable-modem service started getting horrible. Connection is very spotty: internet access seems to come and go on a minute-by-minute basis, and is sometimes very fast and sometimes incredibly slow. I've now started getting weird error pages from Earthlink, too, like this one when I try to reach an Amazon page.

So, is there an alternative? Earthlink is nothing more than a rebranded Time Warner Cable, so there's no point in switching to Roadrunner. And I don't have a landline (I use Vonage), so DSL doesn't really seem to be an option. Or, is there a known issue with cable-modem access in NYC which is likely to be resolved at some point?

Posted by Felix at 10:50 EST

Comments

I must say I've found TWC's broadband pretty reliable out in Brooklyn. And if I recall you've had issues with Earthlink in the past... might it not be worth trying to cut out the middle man?

Posted by: Gari N. Corp at 11:32 EST, August 23, 2006

I think most of the problems with Earthlink are problems with Roadrunner: after all, when I switched from Roadrunner to Earthlink, they didn't even change the modem!

And, Roadrunner is $60 per month, just on its own.

Posted by: Felix at 11:45 EST, August 23, 2006

I had the same problems TW cable Internet (also via a third party), sometimes really fast and other times not working at all. You can get DSL without a landline, and I've found it to be much more reliable: http://technically.us/n8/articles/2006/06/06/cable-to-dsl-switching

Posted by: Doc Barnett at 11:46 EST, August 23, 2006

You don't have Cable TV, right? My signal visibly degraged a couple months ago. The tech who came by put what I would probably call a noise reducer -- there is a signal strenght that goes out by default assumes the is split between the TV and the modem. If you don't have the TV, the signal, I guess, fries the modem.

It sounded a little like hoodoo to me, and I still needed a new modem, but it worked out. They also ran new wire from the roof -- if you've ever checked out the wiring jobs the do, the often will split cables, or you get crimps of other damage. It's still a pretty mechanical process, so all of this can affect your signal.

Verizon is supposedly running their fiber in the neighborhood, but it's nowhere near ready.

I got a land line (and, wierdly enough, it was the guy who had installed DSL in an apartment six years ago -- power of unions for ya), and he was selling the DSL service pretty hard. Numbers have come way up in speed, and you can get it without a landline charge I think.

Posted by: 99 at 13:25 EST, August 23, 2006

Can't you just piggy back off your neighbors'? Or are they all encrypted?

Posted by: michelle at 9:39 EST, August 30, 2006

There's a big mountain between Felix and the rest of Avenue B.

Posted by: miss representation at 19:50 EST, August 30, 2006